1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to musical instruments, specifically to necks of stringed instruments.
2. Description of Prior Art
Musical instrument design has an extensive history that parallels general wood working principles. Traditional stringed instrument neck's consist of vertically dimentioned sections of wood, laminated with consideration of wood grain, (as would be commonly understood by someone who is versed in the art of general wood working) and having a horizontally dimentioned section laminated on top (fretboard) 26 FIG. 6. By using "quartersawn" woods (vertically oriented grain that is more expensive to manufacture and purchase) it was believed that this configuration would be the structurally strongest arrangement, and the most stable with regards to wood shifting over time.
Traditional necks were not structurally strong enough to use steel strings without "truss rods" (steel reienforcements--adjustable or fixed) because the necks would bend under the tension of the strings, in the direction of the strings, causing a bow in the fretboard in relation to the strings.
Further, side to side bows were common, where the necks would stand higher on the top right part of the fretboard (for example) and again at the bottom left part of the fretboard, so that a twisting in the neck was evident. These types of defects would often prove to be fatal to the life of the instrument.
Modern variations in traditional designs include using a single piece of wood with a truss rod inserted in a channel that is plugged, leaving a "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck, or a single piece of wood with a separate fretboard added to allow the insertion of a truss rod without the resultant "skunk stripe". Neither of these approaches benefit from the stability generated by laminating alternating grain patterns.
Another variation is to offer multiple vertical laminations--which is aesthetically displeasing since it begins to resemble plywood.